Classical Myths and Legends: Roman Deities and
Epic

The Romans took over much of Greek mythology, usually identifying
Greek deities with more or less similar Roman ones. Except for Apollo, all the Olympian deities
have different names in Latin works: The Romans knew Zeus as JUPITER or,
sometimes, Jove, a sky god and fount of justice. The sea
god Poseidon becomes NEPTUNE
in Roman mythology.

Hades, the king of
the Underworld, could be called PLUTO ("The Rich One") by
the Greeks, and the Romans often used this name or Dis.
The messenger god Hermes
becomes MERCURY for the Romans. The Greek god Hephaestus is the Roman god
VULCAN, whose blacksmith qualities are recalled when we
speak of "vulcanizing" tires.

The war god Ares
is MARS for the Romans, though the
Roman Mars also has some responsibilities for agriculture. The old Roman
war god Quirinus was worshipped separately but identified
either with Mars or with Romulus, son of Mars and the
legendary founder of Rome. Romulus and his brother Remus
had been raised by a she-wolf when their wicked uncle tried to
kill them.

When speaking of Dionysus, the Romans often used his
alternate name Bacchus or the strictly Roman name of
Liber. Uranus (or
Ouranos)
is the same for Greeks and Romans. In Roman mythology, Kronos, the father of Zeus, becomes
Saturn, and the Saturnalia, a festival in his honor, was
a major event.

The Romans also identified the traditional Greek goddesses with
various native deities: The Roman equivalent of Hera was Jupiter's consort, JUNO,
another patron of marriage and motherhood and queen of the gods.
The Greek Rhea>, mother of both Zeus and Hera, is Ops for
the Romans. Ceres is the Roman Demeter, a goddess of
agriculture--think of your breakfast "cereal." Persephone, the daughter of
Ceres/Demeter and queen of the underworld, was called Proserpine
by the Romans. Minerva is the Roman goddess of
wisdom, equivalent to the Greek Athena. Venus is the
Roman Aphrodite, and the Romans
were devoted to this goddess of love and beauty. Her son Eros became the
familiar Roman Cupid.

The Roman Hestia is
the hearth goddess VESTA, whose famous Vestal Virgins
tended Rome's sacred fire. Diana was the Roman
equivalent for the Greek goddess Artemis, the virgin huntress associated
with the moon. The Romans also called Artemis Cynthia
and could call her (or Apollo) 'The Cynthian" after the hill of
Cynthus on the island of Delos where they were bom. Diana/Artemis's
mother Leto was known by the Romans
as Latona. Another Roman moon goddess was Luna,
identified with the Greek Selene, as her sister Aurora
was with the Greek Eos as a
goddess of dawn.

Although the Latin names for figures from Greek mythology are often
better known than the Greek names, the names of traditional Roman deities
are much less well known. Many have few or no myths attached.
Bellona was an Italian goddess of war, said by the Romans
to be the sister of Mars--think of "bellicose."
Cloacina
was the Roman goddess of sewers ("cloaca" in Latin). The rural
Roman deity Faunus had a train of goat-eared Fauns very
much like Pan's satyrs. He was the son
of the woodpecker agricultural
deity Picus and inherited some of his father's gift for
prophecy. Fama was the Roman goddess of rumor and
reputation-"fame." Flora, from whom we get the term
"florist," was a Roman goddess of flowers, and of spring and youth in
general. Fortuna -think "fortune"--was the Roman goddess
of good luck, and one of the most popular Roman deities.

Of the purely Roman deities, one of the best known
is JANUS, the two-faced Roman god of
doorways, also
the god of beginnings (like January) and endings. He was thought to be
the oldest of gods, and his name was invoked even before that of Jupiter
himself. One sometimes hears that Janus was the son of Apollo, but others disagree. Janus was
married to Juturna, the goddess of springs, and he was
the father of Fontus, the god of fountains.

The Lares and Penates were the
household gods of Romans able to afford household deities. There were
always two Penates, as gods of the storeroom. The Lares were good spirits
of the departed, particularly of family ancestors. Lucina
was a Roman goddess of childbirth and chastity. Pales
was a Roman goddess of shepherds (or sometimes a male god).
Pietas was the Roman goddess of domestic affection-for
them, piety was family piety. Pomona was the Roman
goddess of fruit trees, and married to the fruit and garden god
Vertumnus, though others say she was married to another
old Italian agricultural god, Picumnus. Silvanus was a
Roman god of woods and fields. Some poets said he loved a youth named
Cyparissus, who was transformed into a cypress tree, though this story is
also told of Apollo.
Terminus was the Roman god of boundaries and boundary
stones.

A Roman Epic.
The only royal Trojan to escape the fall of the city was Aphrodite was his mother and Julius
Caesar among his descendants, Aeneas's story (The AENEID) was the
obvious choice for the poet Virgil, when he was asked by
the emperor Augustus Caesar to write an epic for Rome. In the first half
of the Aeneid, the hero's wanderings parallel Homer's
Odyssey. The 2nd half models its battle scenes on Homers
Iliad, as Aeneas reaches Italy and marries a local princess after
fighting a war and killing a brave rival. He joins his father-in-law as
ruler of the Latins, founding the city of Alba Longa. Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, were his
descendants. The least Homeric and most moving sections of the Aeneid
deal with the hero's tragic love affair with Queen Dido of Carthage. When the gods remind Aeneas of
his duty to posterity, he sneaks away. Dido tricks her sister
Anna into helping her build a funeral pyre and then
commits suicide.